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Over the past few weeks I've had a number of readers requesting that I review some of the new summer themed flavoured slabs that Hotel Chocolat have produced for 2011. Having been kept busy by the Hotel Chocolat Summer Dessert Peepster Slection for the last couple of Monday's, I thought it best to give you my full run down of the larger slabs in a 3-in-1 special.
All of these chocolates came in 200.0g sizes and in the traditional single piece thick slab Hotel Chocolat form. Just so no one complains about me leaving off the prices (Richard haha!), these are currently priced at £7.00 on the Hotel Chocolat website. Here's what myself and my family thought of them:
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Hotel Chocolat Neapolitan Nibble - 'Stripes of milk chocolate, white chocolate and strawberry flavoured white chocolate studded with cookies'. Expectations are normally sky high when Hotel Chocolat chocolate is about our household, but after trying the Hotel Chocolat Neapolitan truffles to big success earlier in the year (HERE), hopes were really quite high. On the face of things the slab looked nice with the clearly defined chocolate types nice and evenly distributed which we all thought was pretty cool. This design not only brought variety to the party, but also a good bit of fun breaking it apart (which has to be said was a whole lot easier thanks to the cookies bit in the bottom!). Speaking of the cookie pieces, we also all thought these were a clever addition to the chocolates, as they created an 'ice cream cone' like effect once the chocolate had melted. With the variety of the 40% milk chocolate, vanilla toned white chocolate and wonderfully real tasting strawberry this was a slab that was given a big thumbs up by one and all. It was certainly a great product for sharing with people what with the fun there was to be had with it's separation.8.6 out of 10
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Hotel Chocolat Fizzy Lemonade - 'A milk chocolate slab fused with lemon flavoured white chocolate and cracking sherbet. Decorated with solid lemon flavoured white chocolate drops'. This was certainly a very good looking slab on the eye and the fragrant lemon scents that wandered out the packet when opened were a pleasant reminder of the flavour theme at hand. Any reader who has been reading this site for any long duration of time will know that I have a severe dislike for anything along the lines of 'popping candy' or 'cracking sherbet' as Hotel Chocolat so elegantly put it. Well what can I say!? The lemon sherbet didn't do anything for me here! The usual thick melting luxury mouth feel and progressive cream based cocoa tones were all made negligible by the one dimensional, placid lemon flavours, and the horrid fizzing sensation going on at the back of my throat. It was commented on by other family members that the lemon influx was not as suited to the milk chocolate as it has proven to be in similar white chocolate alternatives. This was a fair opinion from my perspective, and was a point I thought best underlined by purely decorative lemon pieces, which were non-enhancing of the taste apart from the most subtle of lemon volume. I'm sure some of you are thinking this slab was in for a tough review before I even tasted it, though I can assure you it got a fair ride thanks to it be test driven by the rest of my family. Certainly not a bad chocolate, but nowhere near one of their best.7.2 out of 10
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Hotel Chocolat Cherry Pop - 'Solid milk chocolate and cherry flavoured white chocolate slab, with popping candy and naturally coloured white chocolate swirls'. In a change up from the norm, I've saved the WORST until last :D Indeed the worst scoring slab has the job of going last today and this honour falls to the Hotel Chocolat Cherry Pop chocolate. I'm sure all your eyes are being drawn to the rather poor presentation score this slab has scored (see graph below!). It looked beautiful with it's swirled chocolate design and smelt wonderfully fruity when the pack was unsealed! ... so what was the problem? Well my hatred of 'Popping Candy' got taken to new levels today. The ghastly stuff not only ruined the perfectly melting mouth feel textures of the chocolate, but it also caused the slab to have the most annoying and disgusting sticky layer on it's outer sides. This made it nigh on impossible to handle without creating a mess, which came at great frustration to everyone that tried it. This was such a shame as the chocolates were as usual fantastic and the cherry influence was real tasting and nicely implemented. The inclusion of the 'Popping Candy' was understandable given the flavour theme they were going for, though part of me thinks it would have been much more wise to implement it in a far smaller volume. I wouldn't buy this one again - Hotel Chocolat have such far greater things to offer.6.8 out of 10
Overall the scores pretty much tell the story here. If you want my recommendations then I say the Neapolitan Nibble is your best bet. Personally I would be more inclined to buy the Hotel Chocolat Summer Peepster Collection what with it offering the glorious Eton Mess, Tiramisu and Mississippi chocolates. I hope you enjoyed the reviews today - let me know what you think of these yourselves.
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60 comments:
Hotel Chocolat chocolate is so good I can see how adding stuff like popping candy and sherbet would be counter productive.
Its like having steak and then covering it in tomato sauce isn't it.
When I saw the score for the first one I thought the other two were going to bust down the 9 mark. Instead I think we got our first criticism of HC for the first time in .... well .... since .... like forever lol. Great reviews man.
These obviously aren't the best chocolates that they have made then. I would of thought that for any other brand you probs would have rated them better. Your expectations of Hotel Chocolat have got to be so high now you probably rated them lower than you would have done for someone else. Thats got to be highly possible don't you think Jim.
They looks so prettttttttty! How did they not get good marks :( I was excited about that cherry pop one as well. Oh well :(
Im genuinely rubbing my eyes in disbelief .... is that really a 6 I see for something bearing a Hotel Chocolat logo? No way. That wouldn't happend on this site.
I knew they were in doo-doo when I read about the sherbet in the 2nd review.
When I read about the popping candy in the 3rd one I 100% knew it was doomed lol.
These low scores have been coming for a long time. It was about time they showed they were mortal. I knew you weren't a crook after all Jim :) You don't help yourself having your ads around the site but I know you wouldn't say something is good without you genuinely liking it. I know you have a few readers who don't quite believe that though if their comments are anything to go by.
I will have to give you my second opinion when my order turns up. I submitted an order online on friday and the cherry fizz slab as part of it.
Fingers crossed I like it better than you did, I think my perceptions of what is good chocolate are going to be a little lower than your experienced pallette so I should hope so :)
Well well. The sun doesn't shine out the bums of HC after all lol :)
I never believed for a minute you had vested interest in making their chocolates sound better than they are but these today just reassure that this definitely isn't the case. I hope we get to see some better chocs from them next week hun - knowing them I predict them to be back on form if you have another one from them to review.
Rxxx
Mmmm I wouldn't mind having any of these. I wish they had done mint neapolitan though and not boring old vanilla.
Can I ask you review that blue box of chocs they got going this year Jim. I don't think its going to be that different to the summer one you did last year but the website says it does have some new truffles in there. Thanks for showing us these three today. I can't see myself buying any of them if i'm honest.
Dx
You always save the best one for last ... I thought we were in for a monster scoring one when you gave the first 8.6. Well done for keeping us all on our toes lol :-P
Rather than these bigger ones I would prefer buying the smaller slabs cause you get the wider variety.
By doing that you can also see whether buying the big slab is worth paying the money for
I don't get your point about the lemon one being better off being white chocolate. If they had done that everyone would have just thought it was the lemon cheesecake chocolate they made. They had to make it different somehow. It makes sense to change the type of chocolate.
I agree with @David. I can see how hotel chocolat chocolate and popping candy doesn't work out. It would be too much of a distraction from the tasty chocolate wouldn't it. It's too higher quality for it to be worth being ruined by such a cheapo sweetie powder like that. Good reviews mate.
I think for the first time ever it would be the vanilla bit of the neapolitan that would go first in house if we bought that to share. My mum and sisters are all big time white chocolate fiends.
Lol at least I would be likely to get first dibs on the strawberry section.
Well well I wasn't expecting any of this.
Lol well I was expecting Hotel Chocolat but I wasn't expecting three reviews and I wasn't expecting you to be so negative about two of them. Fab photos again today btw? Was it a Jim Snr effort again?
Whoever has taken over this website who are you and what have you done with Jim :-) :-) Theres no way he would have been so disparraging about Hotel Chocolat.
Hey J
Did you see the tennis yesterday? It wasn't quite the Nadal vs Federer final of a few years ago but it was still remarkable wasn't it! I thought that Djokovic played so well. That second set he played I don't think federer, nadal and murray combined could have touched him lol.
I didn't think these were going to score that well when I looked them up the other day when I saw them get requested. I thought there might have been a reason for you putting them off and it makes sense now with the popping candy etc. Good reviews anyways mate.
Cheers
N
I have to stop looking at this site monday mornings. I just end up buying whatever you review lol. I just put another order in for the cherry and the neopolitan truffles. I swear I spend more on the postage than I do on the chocolate.
Jim I took your advice on the mississippi one and I can't thank you enough. Omg its heaven. It's like the perfect mixture of all the different types of chocolate. If anyone is 50/50 about ordering you have to take the plunge. It's every bit as good as jim makes out, worth every penny.
which are better? the neapolitan slab bar or the neapolitan truffles you did a few weeks ago?? I think the slab looks the better of the two, its more uniquely HC if you get what im saying.
I've also found in the past that the more 'complicated' chocolates that Hotel chocolat try and make aren't as good as their simpler ones.
They never make bad chocolates passe, it's just I never think they are as good as the plainer ones.
There is way way way too much hotel chocolat chocolatey goodness for me to take on a monday morning. They all look so good, I want them all now.
Twitter: @Ditzychick54
You haven't had any Hotel Chocolat boxed chocolates for a while now Jim. Have they not had any new ones you can try?
Great work rounding up the new slabs for us, I thought they might be a bit gimmicky these ones. They suit the summer but I think the peepster box with the dessert ones in would be more my taste.
Wow three hotel chocolat reviews all in one. I wasn't expecting this at all, it was a nice treat.
I don't want to bash your review but I completely disagree with you about the fizzy lemonade. I tried some in the shop last week and thought it was lush. I would have walked out of there with a bar of it if I had the money on me.
I will be going back next time I'm there to buy the thing. I don't often think you are wrong but with all due respect I think you aren't right about that one this time.
Ahhh so it appears they are only nintey-nine percent flawless then lol.
As much success as you have had with these guys you were always going to come across something they made that wasn't to your tastes. It was inevitable after trying over 100 of their chocolates.
Dammit. It's a shame that the bottom two didn't test that well. I wanted you to say they were great so I felt justified buying them. Maybe now I will buy them just to double check for you that they aren't as good as they should have been. Do you think thank that is a good enough excuse Jim?
The only thing better than a Hotel Chocolat review on a Monday morning is THREE Hotel Chocolat reviews on a Monday morning =) =) =)
It looks like HC went over the top with the last two. They should have just kept them simpler and not put the silly things like the sherbet or popping crackle in them.
I had a look at some of the older HC revies and it looks like the simpler ones are the better scoring ones than the ones that have lots of bits and other ingrdients on them. The only exception I can find is the Eton Mess which is just excellent.
I don't fancy the cherry one with the fizzy stuff in it but no question about it I think the neapolitan would be my sort of chocolate. I know I would spend ages carefully breaking it apart, I would only eat the only flavour at a time you see. I think that is the OCD in me hehe.
I found the lemonade one loads better than you did. I would have given it 8/10 you are just being harsh because its not dark chocolate. The only chocolates you have given recently with high marks are ones that have been made with dark chocolate. I find your scores for anything that have milk or white chocolate as their main part are always underated.
Im going to take a chance on the cherry one. I hope I don't think its as much of a let down as you obviously did. I think its the swirly chocolater pattern that has me mesmerised lol. I've been planning to buy it for weeks now so it would be stupid just changing my mind on one review., especially considering I think we like different things from our chocolates. All the ones you say are too sweet are some of my favourite chocs! Milkybar is a perfect example.
Just looking at them without reading what you say and your ratings I would have guessed the cherry one would have come through scoring the best. I don't mind popping candy at all myself but I can see where you are coming from saying that it doesn't belong in Hotel chocolat chocolate. I get why some cheaper lesser chocs might be helped by popping candy to make them more interesting, but I don't think Hotel Chocolat stuff would ever need that.
Jim I was reading your twitter feed with your reactions to the boxing mate. You must have watched it then yeh? Wasn't Haye the biggest disappointment ever!
3-in-1 Hotel Chocolat post! Awesome! Thumbs up for you J!
Goodie I feel ok about being all annoying and asking you to hurry up reviewing these now. I would have made the mistake of buying both those lemon and cherry ones. Now I know that im much better off getting some of the other bits and pieces I fancy like the mississippi mud pie. I might even be really boring and buy some more eton mess. It's just so good I could eat that one all day I think.
I wont get to eat three different slabs in a year let alone three in a day. You are so lucky man, you probably take it all for granted now.
I thought there was a reason why not many chocolates ever have lemon in them. The acidity just doesn't go with milk I don't think. The last white choc I had flavoured with lemon was good, but that was one of those one off truffles you get from thorntons. Apart from that I can't think of an instance where its been done well and if hotel chocolat can't pull it off that sorta suggests there is little hope for the rest of them.
Brilliant reviews my choccie lover. Your entertaining words are nearly as drool worthy as your incredibly detailed pctures.
Jimbo will this competition you mentioned at the weekend be starting today by anychance? My eyes are firmly placed on the twitter feed dude.
I never knew they did these middlish sized slabs. I've only ever seen the 100 small and 500 gram big'uns before. I think this is probably just about the right size. The 100 grams go in no time and the 500 gram ones last so long they go a bit manky by the time you finish them. 200 is the sensible size.
I have a feeling that hotel chocolat were trying to appeal to younger kiddies with these rather than their more traditional older customers. It would explain why you didn't like them as much considering your an older blokey. Just how old are you btw if you don't mind me asking.
What the frick is up with those yellow splodges on the fizzy lemonade? Talk about random.
Hi All,
Blimey some of you are commenting like I took Hotel Chocolat to the cleaners here :D It was hardly the case was it! I think my wording got as strong as 'not one of their best' :D
Monday is proving as busy as always on the comments so please allow me just to answer the questions. As always I've read (and been entertained!) by every single one of them.
Again thanks for the kind words about the photographs. The old man will no doubt be purring about it again when I speak to him. He was dead chuffed about the Lucky's feedback he got last week from you all.
DAVID - Steak and tomato sauce! I love that analogy it fits perfectly.
STEVEN - I rate chocolates on their merits chap. Not by who makes them.
RACHEL - Let me ruin the surprise and indeed confirm they are back to business next week :D
DAISY - Request noted.
KIRSTY - See re: photos above.
NIGEL - I did indeed see the tennis. Awesome stuff wasn't it. That second set by Djoko was perfect tennis, absolutely incredible. What I can't believe is that Rafa was playing with a broken foot - someone should inform our ex 'heavyweight' champion of this. He was crying about a broken toe haha! He obviously can't be as tough as Nadal.
YASMINE - Please don't stop reading :D
SELINA - That is a million dollar question. Personally I prefer the truffles but lets be honest there is little to pick between them.
ROBERT - See what I said to Daisy above. Request noted ... review incoming.
FRANCESCA - We are allowed to have different opinions! If we all agreed on everything life would be horrendously boring.
PATTRA - You need an excuse to buy some Hotel Chocolat? Just treat yourself :D
CLAIRE - Haha that made me laugh. You wont be the only one doing that don't you worry. I gave it a go but gave up pretty quickly. It was hard enough breaking up in the first place.
ANON - You are entitled to your opinion but I think you need to look at a few more of my reviews. I don't have a particular preference of one chocolate type over another ... it just depends what it is.
IAN - Couldn't have put it better myself.
CHRIS - Haha I was giving it some on Twitter wasn't I. Me and my mates thought we would share our views as the fight developed :D Interesting spectacle wasn't it :D Just a shame about the result I guess.
ANON - I take nothing for granted. I'm very grateful still.
WARREN - Competition inbound for Wednesday. Keep an eye out.
JULIE - What a rude question :D I'm 24 years old ... or young which ever way you look at it :D Old enough to know better some might say :D
ANON - Can't you tell they are yellow coloured white chocolate lemons!?
Thanks for the feedback and comments every one! Much appreciated as normal. I would like to think I could do you all three Hotel Chocolat reviews each work but I unfortunately would run out of things to write about before long :D
Please keep your thoughts coming in on these. I'm especially interested to hear from people that have tried them to see whether you had similar experiences.
JIM
God some some of you aren't half over reacting today. Jim's posted several reviews that haven't been that positive for hotel chocolat. I would suggest some of you look at some of the older posts before writing such crap.
I think someone hit the nailed on the head when they said these had been made with younger people in mind. I think thats why they haven't done as well as some others have recently. Oh well, bring on next weeks hc review :)
I'm highly approving of getting the three in one. It's just a shame that they weren' t any better. I had high hopes the cherry might be worth a purchse. The popping candy does sound like a poor deciion thing to have in there but it makes sense given the theme of the flavour they were going after.
I still I want to try that cherry one now just because it sounds something different. I've been part of the tasting club with like two years now. The only bad thing I would say about being a part of it is that sometimes you get chocolates that are either a) similar to one another or b) the same as the ones you got last year. I know you don't like popping candy but at least it aint as predictable as normal.
I thought you were launching a new competition today Jim? Is it just going to be run on twitter or are you going to do something on the blog?
I know you don't like putting people off things J but your review of the Cherry fizz has completely put me off the idea of buying it now. I had seen it before but had read enough about it to realise it had that horrible popping stuff in it. Thanks for making me aware of it, I also can't stand the feeling it makes in the mouth it makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
Some nice photos of these J. I'm loving being able to see the stuffs inside the slabs. Thats the only problem I have with them is that sometimes it can look like you are getting lots of the fillings like cookie bits but then when you actually go to eat it you realise they have all just risen to the top and you hardly have any :S That happened when I bought the cookies and caramel one. It was tres annoying. Thank you for the reviews.
That was a clever idea having the cookie bits in the bottom of the slab of neapolitan. Perhaps it might have been even better had they been chocolatey wafer ones instead though.
Give yourself a pat on the back Jim. I think you have managed to write about every single thing I asked you to a few weeks ago. You haven't quite given me the reassurances I wanted to buy any of these. I think I'm going to trust your judegement and let them pass me by. There are bigger fish to fry with HC in my book.
RYAN - Indeed there have been more than a few instances where they achieved similar scores.
VHAHRI - These could quite possibly have been developed with a younger target in mind. That is a real possibility.
ZARA - I hear good things about the tasting club. Hopefully one day when my chocolatemission days are over I can belong to them. I just wouldn't have the time to enjoy it at the moment.
WADE - Competition launches tomorrow chap.
Thanks everyone
JIM
:D that is the first time I've ever felt sorry for you having to eat HC. That cherry slab is a beauty though, too bad the stickiness ruined its presentation score. The Neapolitan slab looks right up my alley because it has lots of different flavors in one, and I love their strawberry chocolate in the Eton Mess. Plus the HC website says it has shortbread bits in it too (btw their page has gone out, the one JCM links to). Not to fan the flames, but I think your father's photos in this case are actually more appealing than those on the HC website ;)
PS I forgot to say @Gary one of the companies imho that can pull off lime + milk chocolate is Montezuma.
THEA - Thanks for bolstering the ego of the Old Man even more :D He loves getting all the positive feedback on his photos. It puts him in a very smug mood haha :D Please don't ever feel sorry for me eating Hotel Chocolat chocolate. Even when it's not to my liking it's hardly a chore :D It's all in a days of work. That Montezuma's bar you men is indeed very good - you are talking about the one with chilli in right!?
JIM
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